WASHINGTON – FBI Director Louis Freeh has told Attorney General Janet Reno he wants an independent probe into the government’s deadly assault at David Koresh’s cult compound in Waco, officials said yesterday.

A Justice Department official said Reno “is trying to find an outside investigator” – but so far hasn’t come up with one.

A prime question is why it took the FBI six years to ‘fess up to the fact that incendiary military tear-gas canisters were used on the final day of the 51-day Texas siege that ended with the deaths of about 80 people.

Another question is why Army Delta Force commanders were at the scene, since they’re barred by law from being used in domestic operations. The FBI says they were there only as observers.

Freeh didn’t become FBI chief until three months after the April 19, 1993, Waco disaster.

Reno is under increasing pressure as even normally loyal Democrats in Congress – such as Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) – say it’s time for an independent investigation to clear the air.

The Republican-controlled Congress now is gearing up for a new Waco probe. Its first related probe, in 1995, degenerated into partisan battles as Democrats defended the siege and GOPers blasted it.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) is now said to be exploring the possibility of a bipartisan joint House-Senate commission to explore the issue in a less political mood.

But House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton (R-Ind.), an outspoken Clinton critic, has already begun his own probe. Burton told CNN last night that he’s fired off a deluge of subpoenas, including some to the White House.